Truck for tending textile loom batteries

ABSTRACT

A movable truck for tending textile loom batteries including a housing having casters on the bottom thereof for easy moving of the truck by an operator from loom to loom, a first compartment for carrying full quills of yarn to replinish the batteries on looms, a second compartment for carrying empty quills removed from the looms, and a door associated with the second compartment and positioned upwardly from the base of the truck and including means for opening the door to empty the empty quills from the second compartment and for closing the door to accumulate the empty quills in the second compartment. The truck allows joint transportation of full quills of yarn to the looms for replinishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating separate transporting operations.

United States Patent n 1 Lee et a1.

[54] TRUCK FOR TENDING TEXTILE LOOM BATTERIES [75] Inventors: Roy Leon Lee, Fort Mill; Lanneau Frazier Waldrop, Rock Hill, both of S.C.

[73] Assignee: Springs Mills Inc., Ft. Mill, S.C.

[22] Filed: May 21, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 145,733

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,023,730 12/1935 Heise ..298/24 295,441 3/1884 Sharples ..298/2 836,188 11/1906 Hovas 298/5 51 Mar. 27, 1973 Att0rney-Parrott, Bell, Seltzer, Park & Gibson [57] ABSTRACT A movable truck for tending textile loom batteries including a housing having casters on the bottom thereof for easy moving of the truck by an operator from loom to loom, a first compartment for carrying full quills of yarn to replinish the batteries on looms, a second compartment for carrying empty quills removed from the looms, and a door associated with the second compartment and positioned upwardly from the base of the truck and including means for opening the door to empty the empty quills from the second compartment and for closing the door to accumulate the empty quills in the second compartment. The truck allows joint transportation of full quills of yarn to the looms for replinishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating separate transporting operations.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures TRUCK FOR TENDING TEXTILE LOOM BATTERIES This invention is directed to a movable truck for tending textile loom batteries and more specifically a truck characterized by easy mobility from loom to loom and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarn to the loom batteries for replinishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating'separate transporting operations.

Conventional textile looms include batteries for carrying a plurality of full quills of filling yarn for replinishment of the loom shuttles when a quill is depleted and for ejection of the empty quills from the shuttles into a quill can at the loom. l-leretofore, in tending of textile loom batteries, two operators have been used. The first operator utilized a single compartment quill truck containing full quills for moving from loom to loom to replinish the loom batteries with full quills of filling yarn. A second operator utilizing a single compartment truck moved from loom to loom and picked up the empty quills from a quill can on the loom and carried these empty quills to a collection container and manually emptied the empty quills therein. This procedure was both a time consuming and expensive operation necessitating the use of two operators and two separate trucks for tending the batteries of textile looms.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a single movable truck for tending loom batteries which is characterized by easy mobility from loom to loom and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarn to the loom batteries for replinishment and empty quills away from the looms to eliminate separate transporting operations and dual operators.

It has been found by this invention that the above object may be accomplished by providing a movable truck comprising a housing of lightweight material including a front portion for the positioning of an operator, a rear portion and a base portion and caster means supporting the housing at the base portion thereof for providing manual mobility to the truck for easy moving of the truck by an operator from loom to loom. The front portion of the housing of the truck defines a first compartment for carrying full quills to replinish the batteries of looms. The first compartment has an upper opening extending forwardly of the housing of the truck for easy access by the operator to the full quills in the first compartment. The rear portion of the housing of the truck defines a second compartment for carrying empty quills removed from the looms. The second compartment has an upper opening for access by the operator to place empty quills therein removed from the looms. A door forms a part of the second compartment and is positioned upwardly from the base of the housing of the truck and includes a means for opening the door to empty the empty quills from the second compartment and for closing the door to accumulate the empty quills in the second compartment.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the movable truck constructed in accordance with this invention and shown positioned adjacent a conventional textile loom battery and adjacent a container for emptying the empty quills collected as the truck is moved from loom to loom;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the truck of FIG. 1 illustrating the compartments thereof filled with full quills of textile yarn and empty quills; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, like FIG. 2, taken from the rear side thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, the truck constructed in accordance with this invention is generally referred to by the reference numeral 10. This truck 10 is specifically characterized by easy mobility from loom to loom in a textile plant and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarn Y to loom batteries B for replinishment of the batteries B with full quills of yarn Y and to transport empty quills E removed from a quill can'C away from the looms eliminating separate transporting operations and dual operators.

The truck 10 comprises a housing 11 which may be constructed of any lightweight material including plastic, lightweight metals, etc., and includes a front portion 12 for the positioning of an operator for moving of the truck, a rear portion 13 and a base portion 14. Casters 17 are secured to the bottom of the base portion 14 for providing easy moving of the truck by an operator from loom to loom.

The housing 11 defines a first compartment 20 in the front portion thereof for carrying of full quills of yarn Y. The first compartment 20 has an upper opening 21 at the upper portion thereof which extends forwardly of the housing at a downwardly extending angle with respect to a vertical plane for easy access by the operator to the full quills of yarn Y in the first compartment 20.

The housing 11 further defines a second compartment 30 in the rear portion thereof for carrying empty quills E removed from the quill can C at the loom. The second compartment 30 has an upper opening 31 for access by the operator to place empty quills therein.

A door.40 forms a part of the second compartment 30 for opening thereof to empty the empty quills E from the second compartment and for closing thereof to accumulate the empty quills E in the second compartment. The door 40 is mounted by hinges 41 on that portion of housing 11 defining the second compartment 30 and is pivotally moved to an open position by a manually operable handle member 45 which is pivotally connected at 46 to the housing 11 and includes a lever 47 connected at one end thereof to one end of the handle 45 and connected at the other end thereof to the door 40. When the handle 45 is moved from the solid line position of FIG. 1 to the dotted line position of FIG. 1, the door 40 will be moved from its closed solid line position to its open dotted line position. A suitable cover 48 is provided to cover the lever 47 and a portion of the handle 45. A spring 49 is secured between lever 47 and the housing 11 for biasing the door 40 in its closed position.

As may be seen clearly in FIG. 1, the door 40 extends rearwardly of the truck 10 further than the base portion 14 for forming an overhang so that the truck 10 may be moved up to another truck or container (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1) and the door 40 opened for dumping the empty quills E into the collection container.

The housing 11 further includes a separator wall 50 positioned between the first and second compartments 20 and 30 for separating the compartments. The separator wall 50 extends downwardly, at an angle to a vertical plane, toward the rear portion 13 of the housing 11 so that the empty quills B will be forced downwardly into contact with the door 40 for easy emptying of the second compartment. This wall 50 may be constructed of transparent plastic or other material for easy viewing of the second compartment 30 by an operator.

The truck may further include a transparent window 56 in the rear portion thereof for viewing of the inside of the second compartment 30 and may include suitable bumpers 57 and 58 constructed of suitable rubber or metal material for absorbing shocks in case the truck contacts another object.

Thus, it may be seen that the improved movable truck constructed in accordance with this invention provides easy mobility from loom to loom and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarns to the loom batteries for replinishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating separate transportation operations and dual operators.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

That which is claimed is:

1. A movable truck for tending textile loom batteries and specifically characterized by easy mobility from loom to loom and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarn to the loom batteries for replenishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating separate transporting operations; said truck comprismg:

a housing of lightweight material including a front portion for the positioning of an operator, a rear portion and a base portion;

caster means supporting said housing at said base portion thereof for providing manual mobility to said truck for easy moving of said truck by an operator from loom to loom;

a first compartment means defined by said front portion of said housing for carrying full quills of yarn to replenish the batteries on looms, said first compartment means having an upwardly facing opening extending forwardly of said housing for easy access by the operator to the full quills in said first compartment;

a second compartment means defined by said rear portion of said housing for carrying empty quills removed from the looms, said second compartment having an upwardly facing opening for access by the operator to place empty quills therein removed from the looms;

door means forming a part of said second compartment and said rear portion of said housing and positioned upwardly from said base of said housing and including means for opening said door means to empty the empty quills from said second compartment externally of said truck and outwardly of said rear portion of the housing and for closing said door means to accumulate the empty quills in said second compartment; and a wall forming a part of said second compartment and extending downwardly at an angle to a vertical plane toward. said door so that the empty quills may be easily emptied from said second compartment.

2. A movable truck, as set forth in claim I, in which said door means extends rearwardly of said truck further than said base portion of said housing for forming an overhang so that the empty quills from said second compartment may be emptied into a collection container.

3. A movable truck, as set forth in claim 1, in which said wall forming a part of said second compartment is positioned between said first and second compartment for separating said compartment and extends downwardly at an angle to a vertical plane toward the rear portion of said housing so that the empty quills may be easily emptied from said second compartment.

4. A movable truck, as set forth in claim 1, in which said means opening and closing said door means comprises a manually operable handle and lever mechanism for selective opening and closing of said door means by an operator. 

1. A movable truck for tending textile loom batteries and specifically characterized by easy mobility from loom to loom and the ability to jointly transport full quills of yarn to the loom batteries for replenishment and empty quills away from the looms eliminating separate transporting operations; said truck comprising: a housing of lightweight material including a front portion for the positioning of an operator, a rear portion and a base portion; caster means supporting said housing at said base portion thereof for providing manual mobility to said truck for easy moving of said truck by an operator from loom to loom; a first compartment means defined by said front portion of said housing for carrying full quills of yarn to replenish the batteries on looms, said first compartment means having an upwardly facing opening extending forwardly of said housing for easy access by the operator to the full quills in said first compartment; a second compartment means defined by said rear portion of said housing for carrying empty quills removed from the looms, said second compartment having an upwardly facing opening for access by the operator to place empty quills therein removed from the looms; door means forming a part of said second compartment and said rear portion of said housing and positioned upwardly from said base of said housing and including means for opening said door means to empty the empty quills from said second compartment externally of said truck and outwardly of said rear portion of the housing and for closing said door means to accumulate the empty quills in said second compartment; and a wall forming a part of said second compartment and extending downwardly at an angle to a vertical plane toward said door so that the empty quills may be easily emptied from said second compartment.
 2. A movable truck, as set forth in claim 1, in which said door means extends rearwardly of said truck further than said base portion of said housing for forming an overhang so that the empty quills from said second compartment may be emptied into a collection container.
 3. A movable truck, as set forth in claim 1, in which said wall forming a part of said second compartment is positioned between said first and second compartment for separating said compartment and extends downwardly at an angle to a vertical plane toward the rear portion of said housing so that the empty quills may be easily emptied from said second compartment.
 4. A movable truck, as set forth in claim 1, in which said means opening and closing said door means comprises a manually operable handle and lever mechanism for Selective opening and closing of said door means by an operator. 